Sacrifice for a better future

Many institutions went on vacation for the Yuletide. But, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), academic activities went on, writes OLADELE OGE (400-Level Mass Communication).

It the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), there was no holiday. Academic activities went on as usual. Though many regular students went home to celebrate Christmas, some were stranded on the campus. So, they spent their Yuletide break in the school.

But for students offering Sandwich programmes, the Christmas was no break. They wrote their exams during the period. The exam began two days before Christmas. For the rest of the days up to the New Year, except on December 25 and January 1, the students were in the exam hall.

The Sandwich students are mostly working adults. Some are teachers, who want to upgrade their qualifications. A few opted for the programme because they couldn’t go for regular academic programmes.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the students pleaded with the authorities to shift the exam date to January but the management did not oblige. When it dawned on them that the exam date would not be changed, some of them, who had travelled for Christmas, returned to the campus.

To compound their problem, commercial cab drivers, who ply the campus, were also on holiday. The few that were operating doubled their fares.

Some of the students spoke to CAMPUSLIFE.

Mr. Peter Ewhrudjapkpor, who is a 500-Level Sandwich student of Adult Education and Extramural Studies, spoke of the inconvenience the Christmas-period exam caused him. He said: “Frankly speaking, no student is satisfied with the exam period because it made many of us to travel from afar down here to write the exam. Personally, I would have celebrated with my family in my village rather than being alone here reading. And for those of us who don’t have cars, it is a big problem because many of the campus shuttle vehicles only carried chartered passengers at unaffordable fares.”

He said transportation and water shortage were major challenges most of them faced during the period.

Mrs. Priscilla Ogbonna, final year Sandwich student of Adult Education and Community Development, noted that it was difficult for students to write exam during the period because “many of us who are self-employed make sales during the period.” She lamented the transportation problem encountered by the students during the exam.

For Akinrinlola Iyeyemi, 200-Level Geography, spending Christmas in school was not what he planned for. “There is nothing like home,” he said, adding that the “long journey” from Enugu to Lagos was the reason he stayed back.

He confessed that it was not his first time he would be spending the Yuletide break on the campus. Akinrinlola said staying on campus when students had gone for holiday was sickening, because “to get foods, water, and recharge cards is tasking.” He said he used the period to complete the assignments.